GENEVA - UN human rights chief Navi Pillayhas urged Senegal to reconsider sending Chad's former dictator Hissene Habre back to his home country to face justice for alleged atrocities.
Extraditing Habre to Chad, which has sentenced him to death in absentia for the torture and killing of political opponents, might violate international law, Pillay said.
"I urge the government of Senegal to review its decision," Pillay said, stressing the need for guarantees that Habre would not face torture or death penalty and would get a fair trial.
"Extraditing Habre in the present circumstances, in which those guarantees are not yet in place, may amount to a violation of international law." Habre ruled Chad from 1982 and fled to Senegal in 1990, when he was overthrown by incumbent President General Idriss Deby Itno.
A 1992 truth commission report in Chad said Habre had presided over 40000 political murders and widespread torture. In 2008, a court in Chad sentenced him to death for crimes against humanity after a trial held in his absence.
Habre has spent two decades in exile in Senegal living in a chic suburb of the country's seaside capital. Senegal said on Friday it would sent the former dictator home this week .
"As a party to the Convention Against Torture, Senegal may not extradite a person to a state where there are substantial grounds for believing he would be in danger of being subjected to torture," the human rights chief said.
"At the very least Senegal must obtain fair trial guarantees from the government of Chad before any extradition takes place." Habre, through his lawyer, at the weekend denounced his pending repatriation as "kidnapping".
Human rights groups have criticised Senegal's decision to deliver Habre into the hands of Itno.
"We want justice, not the guillotine," Human Rights Watch advocate Reed Brody said.
Habre was charged in Senegal in February 2000, but the indictment was dismissed by a Dakar appeals court on the ground that crimes against humanity were not part of Senegalese criminal law.
In September 2005, Belgium issued an international warrant for Habre's arrest after several alleged victims of his regime filed complaints in Belgian courts, but Senegal refused to extradite him.
Brussels then lodged a case in the International Court of Justice in The Hague in 2009, urging Senegal to prosecute Habre or extradite him to Belgium for trial. A ruling is still pending. - Sapa-AFP
Outcry at Senegal's move to extradite Habre
GENEVA - UN human rights chief Navi Pillayhas urged Senegal to reconsider sending Chad's former dictator Hissene Habre back to his home country to face justice for alleged atrocities.
Extraditing Habre to Chad, which has sentenced him to death in absentia for the torture and killing of political opponents, might violate international law, Pillay said.
"I urge the government of Senegal to review its decision," Pillay said, stressing the need for guarantees that Habre would not face torture or death penalty and would get a fair trial.
"Extraditing Habre in the present circumstances, in which those guarantees are not yet in place, may amount to a violation of international law." Habre ruled Chad from 1982 and fled to Senegal in 1990, when he was overthrown by incumbent President General Idriss Deby Itno.
A 1992 truth commission report in Chad said Habre had presided over 40000 political murders and widespread torture. In 2008, a court in Chad sentenced him to death for crimes against humanity after a trial held in his absence.
Habre has spent two decades in exile in Senegal living in a chic suburb of the country's seaside capital. Senegal said on Friday it would sent the former dictator home this week .
"As a party to the Convention Against Torture, Senegal may not extradite a person to a state where there are substantial grounds for believing he would be in danger of being subjected to torture," the human rights chief said.
"At the very least Senegal must obtain fair trial guarantees from the government of Chad before any extradition takes place." Habre, through his lawyer, at the weekend denounced his pending repatriation as "kidnapping".
Human rights groups have criticised Senegal's decision to deliver Habre into the hands of Itno.
"We want justice, not the guillotine," Human Rights Watch advocate Reed Brody said.
Habre was charged in Senegal in February 2000, but the indictment was dismissed by a Dakar appeals court on the ground that crimes against humanity were not part of Senegalese criminal law.
In September 2005, Belgium issued an international warrant for Habre's arrest after several alleged victims of his regime filed complaints in Belgian courts, but Senegal refused to extradite him.
Brussels then lodged a case in the International Court of Justice in The Hague in 2009, urging Senegal to prosecute Habre or extradite him to Belgium for trial. A ruling is still pending. - Sapa-AFP
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